Federal per diem rates unchanged for 2015

The U.S. General Services Administration left unchanged standard lodging and meal per diem rates for fiscal 2015, which begins Oct. 1.

Those daily allowances are $83 for lodging rates and, depending on tier, $46 to $71 for meals and incidental expenses.

GSA also lists per diems for hundreds of "nonstandard" areas, which are higher than the standard rates. In one case, the Manhattan nonstandard area was renamed New York City, "which more accurately recognizes that GSA no longer sets rates for individual New York City boroughs as had been done in the past," according to a notice in the Federal Register.

GSA's per diems are used to reimburse federal workers' expenses and also as an industry benchmark.___